Ryan Nelson was ready to make a career change, but was uncertain about what type of career path he would pursue. Ryan worked in in the financial trading sector for more than two decades, but the industry declined and he was eventually laid off.

Ryan came to accept that he needed to pursue a new industry, and through his research found that the information technology sector was growing. When he arrived at Able and was enrolled in the Employment Opportunities, Personalized Services, Individualized Training, Career Planning (EPIC) program and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) program, he began to explore his interest in the information technology sector with career coach Kelsey Briggs-Dineen. “Able does a great job of figuring out what you are interested in,” Ryan said. “They do a good job of assessing people. They do not set you up to fail.”

Within a few weeks, Ryan began training for a new career in the information technology sector through the IT Career Lab program. “Leslie was my instructor. She did a terrific job explaining,” Ryan said, “Although I did not have a ton of experience, I never felt like that really impacted me because they explained it so well. It was easy to absorb and it was interesting.”

Ryan earned both his Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) certification and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification and began a temporary paid work opportunity shortly thereafter. With a new resume, his certifications, and work experience, Ryan applied for and landed a new full-time permanent role as an Information Technology Project Manager at Heartland Alliance.

Ryan is thrilled about his new job and his new career and credits the entire team at Able for helping get him on a new career path. Of his experience, he said: “They gave me my dignity back.”